He Wanted To Be Somebody
by NuclearCookout
Summary: This is a very short story centering around Star Wolf, & details an event following a mission failure due to a new pilot. Wolf is none too happy, & expresses his disappointment in the recruit in a very harsh way. Rated T for blood, violence.


The young skunk hit the floor hard after being struck by Wolf's plated fist. The blow was intense enough to send one of his teeth flying into a corner of the square metal room and his equilibrium into an uncontrolled spiral.

"You stupid imbecile." Wolf's words were delivered with stark venom as he glared disdainfully at the relatively new Star Wolf pilot. His organic eye was figuratively alight with fire while his glowing cybernetic eye was in a more literal sense.

He began to pace in a circle around the injured operative before continuing to lambaste him. "You should have seen that one coming, Mr. Burkett. You practically ALLOWED Fox to destroy that cruiser's reactor. It was like watching a retarded kitten swat insipidly at a fly. You made us ALL look like weak idiots."

Shaking slightly, Mitchell used his left forearm to prop himself up off the cold steel floor just enough to keep his head from making contact with it, but didn't go much further for fear of being knocked back down again. Blood drizzled from his muzzle to form a small puddle beneath his chin, and his head throbbed with pain. The nineteen-year-old skunk started wondering what had possessed him to even join Star Wolf in the first place. He knew of their harshness, but he also knew of their reputation—their strength. He wanted to make a name for himself. He wanted to be somebody. That was why.

Star Wolf seemed like the perfect candidate at the time; his hometown on Fortuna had been saturated with pro-Star Wolf propaganda, and the lack of career opportunities there only served to influence his decision. Many of his peers strove to be good enough to even apply for the position of a Star Wolf pilot—indeed, there was much heated conflict between the top contenders which resulted in numerous accidents and even a few deaths. Mitchell was one of two who stood out from the rest of the crowd, and their display of skill earned them the opportunity to prove who was better in Wolf's eyes. The winner would be recruited into Star Wolf's ranks and given a Wolfen fighter craft while the loser would be sent home, bloodied and bruised in both the allegorical and realistic meanings.

Mitchell's moment of glory came when he defeated his opponent in a dogfight, though the battle came with a cost for both; Mitchell suffered injuries when his main console caught fire, and his rival was even less fortunate when his ship broke in half and sent him careening into the frigid vacuum of space without proper protection, leading to his demise. Wolf was impressed with Mitchell's success and remained unmoved by the other's death, citing a lack of worth making the individual's life expendable. The skunk received not only what was promised, but a decent sum of money and "female entertainment".

As the weeks passed, Wolf began to see flaws in the young man. Though they were generally dismissed as easily correctable mistakes, he still chided him for them and occasionally used some amount of physical force as discipline, ranging from a grab of the arm to an electric shock.

Then came that fateful day.

Wolf continued to circle Mitchell and mercilessly heap scorn upon him. "That was a very important mission, boy. A lot of money was lost...a LOT of money, as well as a good client. All thanks to your idiotic carelessness." He ran a thumb across his nose and snorted angrily. "It is going to take us a long time to recover from that fiasco."

A brief and unnerving silence followed, broken only by an intermittent grunt of pain from the skunk. The other Star Wolf members stood nearby, staring at the battered individual but not daring to make a sound for fear of interrupting their irate leader if he was about to say anything. Finally, Wolf spoke up again, this time with more ire in his voice. "What, you're not going to say anything? Nothing in your defense? Not a pitiful 'I'll try harder next time' or a sad 'I'm sorry,' huh?"

Wolf huffed impassively when all he heard was an almost incomprehensible, "Fox was...determined." He promptly removed his pistol from his belt and fired into Mitchell's back until the power cell was drained.

The act caused the others to flinch, but nothing more. Wolf sneered at the skunk as blood pooled around his motionless body, then holstered his gun before doing an about-face and exiting the room.

--

Canon Star Fox info © Nintendo

Mitchell Burkett and other info © NuclearCookout


End file.
